Week 4: Assessment—Part 2

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Analyze potential challenges for assessment in field education experience
• Analyze personal action plans for assessment in field education experience
• Analyze assessment in relation to social work practice
• Apply social work practice skills

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Savaya, R., & Gardner, F. (2012). Critical reflection to identify gaps between espoused theory and theory-in-use. Social Work, 57(2), 145–154.

Optional Resources

Click this link to access the MSW home page, which provides resources for your social work program:
MSW home page

Assignment 1: Week 4 Blog

Refer to the topics covered in this week’s resources, and incorporate them into your blog.

By Day 3

Post a blog post that includes:

• An explanation of potential challenges for assessment during your field education experience
• An explanation of personal action plans you might take to address assessment in your field education experience

By Day 4

Respond to the blog post of three colleagues in one or more of the following ways:

• Make a suggestion to your colleague’s post.
• Share an insight from having read your colleague’s posting.

You will be assigned to author regular blog entries as well as make comments on each other’s blog postings.

Submission and Grading Information

To post your blog, do the following:

• To post your blog, click on the Create Blog Entry button. Create your blog with the Title “Week 4 Blog First Name Last Name”. Type your post in the Entry Message using the Text Editor or by copying from your Word document. Submit your blog by clicking on the Post Entry button.

To submit your blog response, do the following:

• Select the blog entry from your colleagues by selecting their Week 4 Blogs. Select Comment button below their Week 4 Blogs. Type your response in the box. Submit your response by clicking on the Add button.

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:
Week 4 Assignment 1 Rubric

Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 4

To create your Blog post:
Week 4 Assignment 1

Assignment 2: Process Recordings

A process recording is a written tool used by field education experience students, field instructors, and faculty to examine the dynamics of social work interactions in time. Process recordings can help in developing and refining interviewing and intervention skills. By conceptualizing and organizing ongoing activities with social work clients, you are able to clarify the purpose of interviews and interventions, identify personal and professional strengths and weaknesses, and improve self-awareness. The process recording is also a useful tool in exploring the interpersonal dynamics and values operating between you and the client system through an analysis of filtering the process used in recording a session.

For this Assignment, you will submit a process recording of your field education experiences specific to this week.

The Assignment: (2–4 pages)

• Provide a transcript of what happened during your field education experience, including a dialogue of interaction with a client.
• Explain your interpretation of what occurred in the dialogue, including social work practice or theories, and explain how it might relate to assessment covered this week.
• Describe your reactions and/or any issues related to your interaction with a client during your field education experience.
• Explain how you applied social work practice skills when performing the activities during your process recording.

Responses

 Emily Worley  at Monday, December 16, 2019 5:38:52 PM

Challenges of Assessment

Assessments are an integral part of social work and provide the fundamental building blocks for an effective therapeutic relationship. Some challenges that I foresee myself experiencing are dual relationships, I currently work adults in a small rural area and my internship is with adolescent. At any point one of adult clients could seek services for their juvenile. This would pose a threat to the therapeutic relationship and could also cause division between myself and my client. Another challenge for completing assessment could be the area in which is available to perform an assessment. Being an intern, you do not always have access to your own space, there it could become a challenge to find a conducive work environment. Lastly another challenge would be not having adequate or efficient training with assessment tools.

Personal Action Plan for Assessment

My action plan for my said challenges are to first, if I encounter a dual client seeking services for their child is to ask them their level of comfort with me completing their assessment. Depending on their answer I would either complete the assessment or work to identify another individual to complete their assessment. My internship is aware of my current work; therefore, they always have the clinician their ready to complete an assessment if there is a conflict of interest. Planning is another great way to prevent the above challenges. If I can plan ahead and prepare a space that is comfortable and welcoming for an upcoming assessment, then I need to plan for this. Lastly, using only assessment tools that I am trained in, to complete assessments. Eno & Kerr, 2013 listed the following qualities of a social worker student completing an assessment. Confidence and assertiveness, the understanding and exercise of professional authority; Responsibility for own and others’ ongoing development; Conceptualization and analysis; Integration of theory and practice; The development of anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice; Self-awareness; Critical reflection and reflective practice (pg. 139).

Reference:

Eno, S., & Kerr, J. j. a. [email protected] ac. u. (2013). “That was awful! I’m not ready yet, am I?” Is there such a thing as a Good Fail? Journal of Practice Teaching & Learning, 11(3), 135–148. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1921/2602110309

Noelia Antonio  at Monday, December 16, 2019 12:18:30 PM

The process of assessment involves finding out what the needs are and how to approach them to bring about change. It also involves observing not only the individual, but their environment as well (Milner, Myers & O’Byrne, 2015). During my field education experience, a challenge for assessment that I may encounter would be in deciding what the needs are from the information that is given. Not everyone will be willing to share what their needs and issues are, especially in my field agency where they are involved in child welfare non voluntarily.  

The deciding, or judging process, is trying to assess what works and what doesn’t work, and weighing the risks and benefits, from which we can implement decision making (Milner, Myers & O’Byrne, 2015). It is important to complete an assessment adequately before deciding on what methods will be implemented (Garthwait, 2017). An action plan that I would implement if faced with this issue would be to come to my supervisor for help if I feel that I’m not able to obtain an adequate amount of information, and try to learn new ways to engage in the assessment process. I believe that with effective engagement, it can help in the assessment phase.

References:

Garthwait, C. L. (2017). The social work practicum: A guide and workbook for students (7th 

ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Milner, J., Myers, S., & O’Byrne, P. (2015). Assessment in social work. Macmillan International 

Higher Education.